Talk on Scamming
Notes of the talk ‘Helping Seniors Stay Safe at Home’ given by David Bradshaw of ‘Home Instead’ to U3A Members at Littleborough Coach House on Wednesday 20th March 2019
The talk concentrated on ‘scams’, namely, fraudulent methods to try to obtain money, goods or information from people. All the scams mentioned by David have happened recently and locally within the Rochdale area.
Nationally, about 3.2 million people annually fall victim to these criminal activities resulting in a total amount of about £5 billion being lost by them. 53% of people aged 65 and older have been targeted and ‘seniors’ are considered as potential victims for various reasons including their potential isolation and loneliness, financial stability, poor health and declining cognitive function leading to poor decision-making. They also comprise the fastest-growing segment of the population and the number of people aged over 75 is expected to increase by 40% in the next 10 years thus providing more potential victims and an increased incidence of ‘scamming’ this age group.
Meanwhile, only about 5% of scams are reported. Scamming can take place via telephone, text messages, letter, the internet or in person by someone knocking on your door. The amounts of money lost vary on average between £22 and £17,500.
David warned everyone to be aware of a recent telephone scam relating to investing private pension pots in what turn out to be bogus or high-risk schemes. It is now illegal for anyone to make such telephone contact and fines apply to those callers if it is not the pension-holders themselves who have initiated the calls. Only have such conversations if you have made the call rather than have received it.
‘Phishing’ scams involve sending emails pretending to imitate other bona fide sites in an attempt to obtain , for example, bank details. David advised everyone to look for the coloured lock symbol displayed as part of the website address for confirmation that it is indeed a safe site.
A current scam prevalent in the Rochdale area involves a supposed telephone call from BT advising that the call recipient’s internet connection is about to be terminated and inviting a call back by pressing a telephone key which in fact will result in a loss of money. Ignore any such telephone messages whether live or via an answerphone message.
David described several other common scams. These include:
1. Microsoft imitators who make telephone contact indicating that the potential victim’s computer is running slow or that their router is suffering some other problem and the scammer then offers remedial help, which in reality, results in data including passwords being stolen.
2. Fake charities stealing donated items by removing skips from sites or plastic bags of donated contents from outside houses or posing as collectors receiving cash donations in buckets at supermarket exits. David recommended asking to see evidence of the registered charity permit number of any such collector.
3. Fake requests for a fee to register with the Telephone Preference Service or the Mail Preference Service. Be aware that these are free services and no fee is needed to register with them. The TPS will ensure that anyone registered with it will avoid cold calls although it cannot prevent scam calls. Similarly, any letters containing scams cannot be intercepted since Royal Mail is obliged to deliver all envelopes bearing actual addresses.
4. “Pay up” demands from impostor debt collectors asking for bills or debts to be paid. Names of anyone responding to such demands will then be included on a list of potential victims and sold on for further approaches from other scammers.
5. Release fee scams whereby a prize is offered if an item is first bought from a catalogue and then a fee is requested to access the prize. Similar approaches are made to release lottery winnings or a cash inheritance. On the death of one such scam victim, approximately 30,000 such letters were discovered in her home. As a result, the scam aware charity ‘Think Jessica’ was established and its free information booklet is available via the Rochdale branch of ‘Home Instead’ on 01706 249100.
6. Courier scams in which the victim is advised that a courier will come to collect a non-functioning bank card and then the victim is advised to make a phone call to the bank involved but this results in the victim’s pin number being accessed by the scammer.
7. Scams by a supposed clairvoyant contacting the family of a person named in a newspaper death announcement.
8. Identity theft that can result in the perpetrator securing loans in the victim’s name. David advised that any documents such as bills that disclose sensitive information should be shredded or burned rather than thrown away in waste bins.
9. TV licence scams in which a false email advises that the recipient’s bank details have been compromised and that another safe bank account should be set up for paying the licence fee.
10. PPI scams in which an offer of help is made to check whether the victim is the beneficiary of a PPI payment.
11. Parcel delivery scams in which a phone call is made to the victim advising of a delivery to be made and then the victim is kept talking at length on the phone racking up a charge that benefits the scammer.
12. Telephone calls purporting to be from HMRC demanding unpaid tax. HMRC, however, never conducts such business via telephone.
13. Door-knockers offering to provide some service that involves getting the victim outside to the rear of the house while the scammer’s accomplice enters it via the front door and commits a theft.
14. Secretly copying a debit card and making unauthorised payments with it. Examples of this fraud being committed in petrol stations were mentioned. David advised that the bank involved will usually quickly reimburse the victim unless he or she is shown to have enabled the fraudster to obtain the money involved by willingly providing sensitive information.
15. ‘Cuckooing’ - a scam by which the fraudster gradually befriends the victim with the intention of ultimately moving into and taking over the victim’s property.
In the event of being concerned about a scam or to report a fraud, there are various organisations, in addition to the Police and any local Trading Standards office, that can be alerted such as:
Action Fraud Tel: 0300 123 2040
Royal Mail Tel: 0800 011 3456
Citizens’ Advice Consumer Helpline Tel: 03454 04 05 06
Ann Crossley
Minutes Secretary
Littleborough U3A
23rd March 2019